Bulgarian Memorials in Rome

Bulgarian Memorial Sites in Rome: The Eternal City as a Medium

What is the Eternal City to us?

A fruit of traditional notions hidden in our consciousness, or a play of rich imagination, subject to the historical, social, and cultural changes that define every era.
Ancient phrase „All roads lead to Rome“ reminds of the gilded bronze monument in the shape of a column erected by Emperor Octavian Augustus near the Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum in 20 BC.

Its real outlines are connected with the so-called „Zero Kilometer,“ which served as the starting point from which all distances in the Roman Empire were measured. At the same time, the expression reminds us that Rome is a collective image of a large part of world cultural heritage and acquires the qualities of a medium, connecting different cultural layers and value hierarchies.

The Eternal City is not merely a theme, motif, or setting, but a „media shell” that draws in people, eras, and ideas into a continuous process of representation and comparison, a part of its spiritual topography. „In Rome, everything is different. There is so much antiquity that it speaks to you about past life, even without any knowledge of history. You get an impression of an epic,“ are the first impressions of P. P. Slaveykov, which he shared with Professor M. Arnaudov, walking „on the path of culture – from East to West.“ „The Colosseum alone is a whole Iliad... I came to Rome entirely innocent – and yet I understood something. Director Bondi painted the entire Roman culture for me on the stones; they speak for themselves.“.

By sharing their own cultural experiences, the foreigner depicts the city's „official” places that build its identity.

The gaze wandering through urban space plays with images bearing different cultural potential, managing to map the liveliest topoi of the capital that carry a Bulgarian presence.

Basilica of San Clemente and the Tomb of Saint Cyril the Philosopher

The Basilica of San Clemente, which houses the relics of Saint Cyril the Philosopher, is given a special place in the outlined mind map. Connected with it is the revival of veneration for Saints Cyril and Methodius in Rome, which began in the first half of the 19th century, with contributions from both Orthodox and Catholics. The millennium of their mission among the Slavs was a good occasion for the Croatian bishop Josip Strossmayer, a renowned spiritual patron and Bulgarophile, to send a request to Pope Pius IX for research related to the discovery of the relics of Saint Cyril. The Holy Father welcomed the proposal and permitted archaeological excavations in the Basilica of San Clemente.

The initiative was crowned with success in 1862 when the supposed tomb of St. Cyril and Methodius was discovered, along with unique early Christian frescoes depicting the transfer of the relics of St. Clement by the Slavic enlighteners in the presence of Pope Adrian, the entire clergy, and the people of Rome.

Several decades later, on September 30, 1880, the liturgical celebration of their memory was introduced in the Roman Catholic Church on July 7 by Pope Leo XIII, who in the encyclical „Grande munus“ noted the merits of the holy brothers for the evangelization of Europe. Immediately after, in 1881, Bishop J. Strossmayer initiated the first celebration in Rome of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Over 1400 worshipers visit the Basilica of San Clemente. Among them is a small delegation of Bulgarian Uniates, led by Archbishop Nil Izvorov. Four years later, the new chapel in the Basilica of San Clemente, dedicated to the Holy Brothers and painted by the artist Nobili, was also opened.

The first documented official celebration by Bulgarians of May 24th in Rome took place in 1924, conceived by Prof. Lyubomir Miletich, Chairman of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and a professor at Sofia University. He also founded the „Committee for Organizing the Celebration of the Bulgarian National Holiday of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Rome.“ In July and October 1925, the Roman Catholic Church in Bulgaria organized a pilgrimage to the Italian capital and the Basilica of San Clemente, associated with the Jubilee Year. The leader of the trip was the newly appointed Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria, Archbishop Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII. On October 12th, he performed a liturgy at the tomb of St. Cyril and delivered a speech on the merits of the Holy Brothers for Bulgaria and the Slavic world.

The search for holy relics in the 20th century

A long-standing tradition begins, which gains particular significance in the most recent history of our cultural diplomacy. In the early 1960s, in connection with the 1100th anniversary of the evangelizing mission of the Slavic Equal-to-the-Apostles Saints Cyril and Methodius, the issue of searching for the relics of St. Cyril was raised again by Cardinal Amleto Cicognani, titular of the church of San Clemente. As Professor N. Milev testifies, there is data from 1380, 1588, 1622, and 1798 that they were kept in the church, under the altar of St. Dominic, and were venerated. They were removed at the end of the 18th century to be protected from the turbulent wartime events that Rome was experiencing.

Prof. Leonard Boyle of the University of Toronto undertook this mission, which concluded in the summer of 1963 when Cyril's relics were discovered in a casket with a bone fragment inscribed: „From the bones of St. Cyril“, in the home chapel of an old aristocratic family in the town of Recanati on the Adriatic coast. On November 15, 1963, the newly elected Pope Paul VI displayed the precious relic in the Sistine Chapel before two hundred and fifty archbishops and bishops who had come to Rome for the Second Session of the Second Vatican Council, hoping to strengthen the ties between the Holy See and all the Slavic churches. On November 17, 1963, the relics were solemnly placed in the Basilica of San Clemente in the chapel of the Holy Brothers, built by Pope Leo XIII.
A good foundation is laid for the successful relations between the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Bulgarian state with the Vatican, established with great effort from both sides.

Diplomatic Missions: From „Santa Maria Maggiore“ to Petar Parchevich

The continuity over the years of honoring and glorifying the Holy Brothers is also closely linked to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where in 868, for the first time in the history of the Church, Saints Cyril and Methodius celebrated a liturgy in Old Church Slavonic.

After the consecration of their books by Pope Adrian II, it was recognized as equal alongside Greek and Latin. Upon entering the basilica, on its right side, one can see a memorial plaque in Italian and Bulgarian, placed by our compatriots.

Countless are the signs and places connected with key figures and events in Bulgarian history that are found along the subjective routes of the city. Not far from Piazza di Spagna, in the church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte, lie the mortal remains of Petar Parchevich (1612 – 1674), who dedicated his life to a single cause – the liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman slavery with the help of Catholic Europe. Together with Petar Bogdan Bakshev, author of the earliest known Bulgarian history, he visited a number of rulers and high-ranking church officials from Central Europe with the aim of creating a Christian union against the Ottoman Turks.

We are witnessing how our own and others', national and universal, coexist harmoniously in the universal urban space.

Bulgarian Monuments: Ivan Vazov and Captain Petko Voyvoda

Among the monuments of world art, science, music, and literature, opposite Villa Borghese, next to the Museum of Modern Art, we find the monument to the patriarch of our modern literature, Ivan Vazov. His presence reminds us of the distant year 1884, when Ivan Vazov, together with Mihail Madzharov, made his 25-day tour of the Apennines, resulting in the poetry collection „Italy,“ born from his personal impressions and observations.

On Janiculum Hill, where one of the most beautiful views of the city opens up is placed Monument to Captain Petko Voyvoda. It is situated at the forefront among a constellation of busts of Garibaldians of every nationality. Nearby, a memorial plaque from a grateful Italy has also been placed, bearing the inscription: „In memory of the Bulgarian Garibaldians who, with self-sacrifice and heroism, fought for the freedom, unity, and independence of Italy.“.

For the wandering traveler through this panopticon, the city becomes a cultural text, filled with mythologies of the imaginary, a space for projecting cultural memory and dialogue between different civilizational codes and temporal layers.

Sculptor Asen Peykov: From Fiumicino Airport to Largo Peykov

It is no coincidence that, upon passing through the gates of the spiritual metropolis, at Fiumicino Airport, his first encounter is with Statue of Leonardo da Vinci, created by the talented sculptor Asen Peykov. The author has embodied in it the eternal calling of the creator for the achievement of a higher humanity, which is to become the universal property of mankind.

It is to this cultural mission that our renowned compatriot has dedicated his days in Rome, a life worthy of a Federico Fellini film script. He even lives on the same street as Fellini, the iconic Via Margutta. Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, and Gina Lollobrigida have posed in his studio.

Sixteen large monuments and bas-reliefs and 1,300 portraits have been sculpted by his hands, including the statue of Minerva in front of the University of Bari, the profile of the owner of the oldest Antico Caffe Greco in Rome, the sculptors of Kennedy, Pope Paul VI, Giorgio de Chirico, Massimo Bontempelli, Alberto Savinio, and others. Having permanently embedded his work in the city's history, Asen Peykov is the only Bulgarian whose name is mentioned during mass every last Sunday from October to July in the church of Santa Maria in Montesanto in Piazza del Popolo. This church is dedicated to all artists who have left an eternal mark on the cultural layer of the Eternal City. Largo Peykov, a square located opposite the Colosseum, is also named after him. His biography convinces us that in the eternal dance with otherness, foreignness is destiny, but also the beginning of creative inspiration, a condition for spiritual resurrection.

The Swan Song of Pencho Slaveykov under the Roman Sky

See more Author Antoaneta Balcheva here